The Swedish National Police Board (Rikspolisstyrelsen) has called for new international laws to catch hackers on the internet, after US internet service providers refused to divulge information on the weekend’s attack on government websites.

“The problem is that the internet is an international phenomenon and legislation is national. It’s not limited to Sweden though, it is Europe. And because most big internet providers are US based, we all have the same troubles dealing with them,” Anders Ahlqvist, IT-crimes specialist of the national police, told The Local.

Clearly the U.S. counts on the cooperation of non-U.S. law enforcement when pursuing those who hack U.S. businesses or entities. References to non-public cooperation between Scotland Yard and the FBI in the Ryan Cleary case, leaked online by hackers, provide just one example of how law enforcement is working together across borders (often extra-legally). But equally clearly, under U.S. law an ISP does not have to cooperate with non-U.S. requests unless certain legal requirements are met. So what’s down the road? Will we see legislation enacted that dilutes the protections required in the name of dealing with cybersecurity and hacks that are increasingly viewed as threats to our national security? What will the international agreements look like and will they be bilateral or multi-national?

Will this be another security trumps privacy argument that will erode our privacy protections more?